The knowledge of community health agents applied to anti-smoking practices in the municipality of votuporanga: a brazilian observational-epidemiological study

This project addresses smoking as one of the most important Brazilian public health problems today. Thus, based mainly on statistics and policies brought by INCA, there is a dichotomy: at the same time that it appears as one of the world leaders in the legal issue of (tobacco) control. Brazil also ranks second among the largest producers of the product. The objective was to collect data, through the pre-test and post-test, regarding the knowledge of health agents regarding their actions towards the smoker, as well as to stimulate the clarification of the Community Health Agents about the activities to fight against smoking to be performed by professionals. Therefore, it is essential to emphasize health education in primary care to contribute to the achievement of individual autonomy and responsibility in the care of their health. This is a descriptive, quantitative, qualitative and exploratory study. The permanent education actions were developed by 15 academics, divided into 3 groups with 5 students each, from the UNIFEV Medical Course under the supervision of an advisor professor. The Problematization Methodology, based on the Arco de Maguerez method, was used to work with Community Health Agents belonging to the “Dr. Gumercindo Hernandes ”,“ Dr. Jerônimo Figueira da Costa Neto "and" Dr. Ruy Pedroso ", from the municipality of Votuporanga-SP. The activity consisted of explaining the 5 stages proposed by the booklet “The Community Health Agent and Tobacco Control in Brazil” to approach the smoker: ask, evaluate, advise, prepare and monitor. These will be held in a total of 3 meetings. In the first meeting, it was intended for the link between academics and ACS, explanation of the research procedures, signing of participation terms, filling in a form to identify the participants, applying a pre-test to assess the quality of the agent's approach to the smoker, chat to make them aware of the importance of their role. In the second meeting, guidance was given based on active methodology, based on the first three stages of the booklet, which are asking, evaluating and advising. Finally, in the third meeting, guidance was given on the last steps to prepare and follow up; followed by post-test application. It was expected that the project would result in contributions to the teaching-service integration, intensifying permanent education actions, through the HEI, in addition to greater knowledge of the Community Health Agent in actions to prevent and combat smoking.